Published 1st September 2022 by Three Daggers, Heritage Books Publishing.
From the cover of the book:
He changed his identity.He moved to Hong Kong.
He changed his life.
But can he change who he really is?
Charles Balcombe, sophisticated, risk-taking lothario was a special investigator. He thinks that taking a PI job to find a missing boy will distract him from his killer instinct.
But once a killer...
***********
Hong Kong, 1953: BlackJack, fresh from his murderous exploits in Murray Bailey's excellent Ash Carter book Singapore Killer, has fled to Hong Kong to start again under the alias Charles Balcombe. Masquerading as a secret agent, Balcombe now spends his time living the playboy life and trying to keep his darker desires under control by engaging in affairs with the bored housewives of the expat community, but after a few near misses he begins to realise this is not enough to keep his inner monster under control.
When the attractive, young wife of a high-flying banker asks Balcombe to look into the mysterious disappearance of her stepson, on behalf of her much older husband who wants to keep the business hush-hush, he turns her down - even though he is tempted by the possibility of a new amorous liaison. However, on reflecting that this might be the chance to distract his more baser instincts, he decides to put his skills as an ex-special investigator to the test by looking into the case.
But this case is more complicated that Balcombe anticipated, and as he follows the trail of clues into the dark underbelly of Hong Kong, he becomes rather more visible to likely characters on both sides of the law than he would like. There is something not quite right about this whole affair, and instead of keeping BlackJack under control, he finds himself embroiled in a situation that allows his alter-ego free reign. Once a killer...
I am a huge fan of Murray Bailey's books, and have thoroughly enjoyed both the Ash Carter Singapore and Near East mystery series. When BlackJack escaped Ash Carter's clutches at the end of Singapore Killer, I had high hopes that Bailey would revisit this character because he had such potential for more exciting adventures, so I am delighted that he has been given his own series. Hurray!
BlackJack is deliciously complex character, combining investigative skills almost as good as my old favourite Ash Carter himself, with an inner darkness that struggles to be contained. In Singapore Killer BlackJack's compulsions took him far from the path of righteousness, so I was intrigued to see what Bailey had in store for him in Once a Killer.
The darkness remains in spades, but by giving BlackJack a new lease of life in the guise of an assumed identity as the smooth Charles Balcombe, Bailey also allows you to see that there is a more honourable side to his character. What starts out as a portrayal of a menacing, lounge-lizard, given to letting his debauched desires rule his actions, slowly transforms into the picture of a man who hides a steely determination to protect the vulnerable. There is more to this man that you think, and as he embarks on a crusade to do some good by eliminating more than a few shady criminal types, you find yourself rooting for him at every turn.
And turns there are a-plenty! In true Bailey style there are lovely twists that evoke a Far-East gumshoe noir mystery, with cops and gangsters in a perpetual game of one-upmanship, and high-powered private citizens out to keep their secrets hidden from prying eyes, while Balcombe takes on the role of Private Investigator trying to out-do them all - and indulging in a bit of interplay with a dangerous femme fatale. Although he is definitely unusual in that he has personality traits that are unsettlingly contradictory - think Sam Spade mixed with a good dose of Dexter Morgan and you will get the picture.
Bailey also shows how impressive his writing talents are when it comes to creating a setting that is steeped in spot-on vibes for the time and place in which his stories are set. In this case, early-1950's Hong Kong comes alive, and although there is perhaps not quite the same level of complexity in the melting pot of nationalities rubbing up against each other cheek-by-jowl as in the Singapore books, the stark differences between the haves and the have-nots really comes across. The notion that Hong Kong as an independent entity that will stand the test of time is also nicely touched upon, with a certain degree of irony.
This book kept me entertained from start to finish, as I knew it would. I absolutely love what Bailey has done with this character and where all the satisfyingly twisty threads take you. There is such promise of more thrilling books to come. I cannot wait!
Once a Killer is available to by now in hardcover, paperback and ebook.
Thank you to Murray Bailey for sending me an ecopy of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
About the author:
Murray is well travelled, having worked in the US, South America and a number of European countries throughout his career as a management consultant. However he also managed to find the time to edit books, contribute to articles and act as a part-time magazine editor.
Murray lives on the south coast of England with his family and a dog called Teddy.
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